Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 13, 1990 TAG: 9004130252
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: NEAL THOMPSON NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: FAGG LENGTH: Medium
About 100 gallons of lubricating oil also spilled from one of the two locomotives and workers prepared to begin excavating oil-soaked dirt from behind a trailer home.
The train derailed late Wednesday and 12 of its 142 coal cars toppled off the tracks, spilling mountains of coal into nearby yards. Each car was carrying 100 tons of coal.
None of the train's four-member crew was injured and evacuations weren't necessary, officials said.
Fire and rescue workers from a dozen communities worked through the night skimming fuel from the river as it floated downstream on the north fork beneath Hightop Mountain.
State Water Control Board officials said only a few hundred gallons entered the river. But Elliston Fire Chief Pug Wells placed the estimate much higher.
Don Piedmont, Norfolk Southern Corp. spokesman, said the spill posed no threat to drinking water.
"We are confident that the bulk of the spill has been contained," he said.
Salem, which is the only locality downstream to use river water, did not shut down intake pumps, said water department manager Wesley Graham. The fuel never got close enough, but the department will continue to monitor it, he said.
There were a few ground wells within a hundred yards of the spill, but Wells said they were far enough away that they shouldn't be affected.
A dozen firefighters had shoveled dirt into piles around the train to contain the remaining fuel and keep it from reaching the river.
After the spill was contained, crews rushed about six miles downstream to string giant cotton-like sponges or "booms" across the river to skim the fuel.
With floodlights glaring, firefighers splashed through 2 feet of water to pound in fence posts, string chicken wire across the river's 50-foot width and scatter bales of hay to soak up fuel that the booms may have missed. Other workers threw large towels into the water to absorb fuel.
Thursday, NS crews were flown in or rolled in on trains to man the cranes used to move crumpled coal cars and use bulldozers to push mounds of coal and rock from the tracks.
Hans Katenkamp of Environmental Options of Rocky Mount said his seven-man crew was contracted by NS to contain the spilled fuel and keep it out of the river.
By the time crews arrived, most of the fuel from the engine's 3,900-gallon tank - about two-thirds full - had spilled onto the banks of the river, which flows beside Virginia 603.
NS spokesman Piedmont said the conductor, engineer and two brakemen all were in the front engine. They were not tested for drugs because there were no rule violations and no injuries.
Other trains were being routed to other tracks.
Piedmont said the train was headed east from the Pocahontas coalfields to Norfolk.
Wells said the train had been traveling about 20 mph. It appeared the rock slide had covered the tracks and the train was not able to stop in time, he said.
NS construction crews expected to have the tracks cleared before the weekend.
by CNB